Image: Reuters

The Chinese Beidou navigation network will be completed this month when its final satellite goes into orbit, giving China greater independence from US-owned GPS and heating up competition in a sector long dominated by the US.

As use of mobile devices expanded, China in 2003 tried to join the Galileo satellite navigation project proposed by the European Union but later pulled out to focus on Beidou.

The 35th and final Beidou-3 satellite will be launched this month, meaning Beidou has more satellites in its system than GPS’s 31

In the age of the iPhone, the second generation of Beidou satellites went operational in 2012, covering the Asia-Pacific.

The 35th and final Beidou-3 satellite will be launched this month — the day has yet to be announced — meaning Beidou has more satellites in its system than GPS’s 31, and more than Galileo and Russia’s Glonass.

China’s Xi Jinping

In a 2019 report, the US congressional US-China Economic and Security Review Commission warned that China promoted launch services, satellites and Beidou under its “Space Silk Road” to deepen reliance on China for space-based services, potentially at the expense of US influence.